How to host your own Fediverse instance?: Difference between revisions

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You can create your own Fediverse instances without technical knowledge by using a managed hosting service. <br>

Managed hosting services do all the technical stuff (installation, upgrades, server maintenance etc) while you own and run the instance itself.

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Self-Hosting with YunoHost is a bit harder to do, but it's also cheaper. <br>

You can get cheap domains at about 6€/year and a Hetzner server at 4,19€/month + 0,84€/month for backups. So in total 5,53€/month.

This guide will teach you how to host your own Fediverse instance using a Hetzner Cloud, a Domain from Contabo and '''YunoHost'''. <br>

You don't need to know anything before using this guide. If you still need further assistance feel free to contact [[User:Paula|Paula]].

Hetzner is a green host for servers, so it runs on 100% renewable energy. <br>

Visit [https://hetzner.cloud/?ref=RfcQfiZqEOJY hetzner.com] and register for an account. Hetzner will ask you for some information including a billing method. <br>

Boom, you have a server. That's the first step completed. Congrats!

Next you'll need a domain. The domain is the url where your website, in this case your Fediverse instance, can be found. So something like <code>https://mydomain.org/</code> <br>

For this guide I'll use [https://my.contabo.com/ contabo.com] to get a domain, but you can use other sites as well. Maybe some things will be a little different than explained in this guide then, but some domains may be cheaper on other sites.

Visit the contabo website and register for an account. Here you'll be asked for a billing method too.

Once you have an account login to [https://my.contabo.com/ my.contabo.com]. There go to "domains" in the control panel. Enter your desired domain name and click "Order domain".<br>

Now contabo will check if the domain is available. If not choose another domain and click Next to check if that one is available. In step 2 you'll be asked for contact details. This should be pre-filled with the info you gave when signing up. <br>

Now open up your [https://console.hetzner.cloud/projects Hetzner cloud] in a different tab. Click on your project and then on your server. There you should find the IPv4 address. Click on it to copy it. <br>

Go back to the contabo tab and choose "Own IP address" and in the next line paste your copied IP address. <br>

It may take a while until your domain is registered, but you can go on with Step 3 already. <br>

You should have gotten an eMail from Hetzner containing login credentials. Namely username "root" + a password. <br>

Go to your Hetzner server under [https://console.hetzner.cloud/projects Cloud] > your project > your server and click the ">_" button.

You're now in the console of the server. This may look scary, but we'll guide you through it. <br>

First you'll be asked for your login credentials. Enter <code>root</code> and hit enter.<br>

Next you'll be asked to change the password. Unfortunately you'll have to enter the old password once more but then you can enter the new password - also twice. Choose a password that you don't use all the time but that you can remember. It's best to generate and store your password in a password safe like KeePass.

Enter <code>curl https://install.yunohost.org | bash</code> in the console. Now YunoHost will be installed you'll be asked once to confirm. Just select Yes with your arrow keys and hit enter. <br>

You'll know when YunoHost is finished installing when you can write again. <br>

Now close the console.

Once again copy your IP address (Open up your [https://console.hetzner.cloud/projects Hetzner Cloud]. Click on your project and then on your server. There you should find the IPv4 address. Click on it to copy it.). <br>

Now paste it in the url bar of your browser and hit enter. <br>

Now go back home, click on Diagnosis and start the initial diagnosis. <br>

When the diagnosis is done check out the errors displayed in the category DNS records. You'll need to fix the errors for the categories basic and mail. <br>

To do that go to your [https://my.contabo.com/ Contabo control panel] (in another tab), "your services" and click on "manage" besides your domain. Now click on "edit DNS zones". <br>

If you're still waiting for the diagnosis tool you can continue with step 6. and finish step 5. later.

In your YunoHost portal go to "Applications", "+ Install", choose the category "Social Media" and click "+ Install" besides the App you want to install. <br>

At this point I have to praise and recommend the Mastodon fork Ecko ([[What is Ecko?]]). <br>

Log in with your YunoHost user data and start configuring the Admin settings. <br>

You can repeat the whole guide to install another app under another domain or you can use the following steps to install another app under a sub domain of your current domain. <br>

In your YunoHost site go to "Domains", "+ Add domain", select "I already have a domain name… " and enter a sub domain of your domain. E.g. if you want to install mastodon you could name the sub-domain "mastodon", so you would enter <code>mastodon.mydomain.org</code>. Then click "Add". <br>

Now go to "Applications" and install another app. Make sure you choose the newly created sub-domain to install the app to.

[[Category:How to]] [[Category:Advanced]] [[Category:Admin guide]]

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